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Andhra Pradesh: Revenue official caught red-handed by ACB for accepting bribe

Prasanthi, a revenue officer had allegedly demanded Rs 6 lakh as bribe to process a file related to land reforms section.

Andhra Pradesh: Revenue official caught red-handed by ACB for accepting bribe
Author
Vijayawada, First Published Jan 22, 2020, 1:06 PM IST

Vijayawada: The anti-corruption bureau (ACB) caught a revenue official red-handed while demanding and accepting a bribe at the district collectorate in Machilipatnam in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh on Monday.

The accused, identified as Prasanthi, is an officer in the land reforms section. According to ACB officials, they received a complaint from Meka Ramalingeswara Reddy of Undavalli village in Guntur district. In his complaint, he stated that he had purchased around 4.53 acres of land in Katuru village in Krishna district in 2015 in the name of his mother and sister.

The family had applied for pattadar passbooks at the tahsildar’s office at Vuyyur town through Mee Seva scheme. The tahsildar has been accused of telling them that the land is under Land Ceiling Act and the file will be processed in the land reforms’ section at the district collectorate in Machilipatnam. On January 10, Reddy received a notice from Vuyyur tahsildar stating that they should collect their passbooks and land deeds.

Reddy accused Prasanthi of demanding a bribe of Rs 6 lakh on January 12 to issue the passbooks and deed letters. The revenue officer had instructed Reddy to pay her Rs 3 lakh first, after which Reddy lodged a complaint with the ACB who laid a trap on Monday afternoon.

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As soon as the accused was caught red-handed, Prasanthi denied the allegations of accepting bribes and claimed that she had no idea that there was money in the envelope and that she only accepted the envelope thinking there were documents in it.

However, the bribe money was recovered from Prasanthi and both her hands tested positive during a chemical test.

A case was registered against Prasanthi and she was taken into custody.

She will be produced before the Vijayawada ACB court for judicial remand. 

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